WAG Intro - Adult Gymnastics Beginner

[gymdilettante]

Hello I'm gymdilettante. I am in my 20s and I did other sports as a child and played D1 college sports...not in that shape anymore unfortunately lol. I always wanted to do gymnastics, though (as an aside I hope my future daughter does gym but we'll see!). When I was young I used to do simple gymnastics tricks like cartwheels, back bends, kickovers, handstands, round offs, etc. but I never took classes.

Recently my interest in gymnastics was rekindled. I decided I wanted to try to learn some simple gym skills. I was surprised to discover that I couldn't do a lot of skills I used to be able to do easily like push up into a bridge let alone do a back bend! Over the past month I have learned that along with kicking up into a handstand and a cartwheel (legs kinda bent though). I have also been working on strength with v-ups, planks (front and side) and plank push ups, leglifts, hangs, tuck hangs, L hangs (still working on this), pull ups (again still working on this. ..not making much progress on these though). I've also been working on flexibility - splits all three ways (far from this), pike stretch, attempting pancake position.

Anyway my question is if anyone can recommend a YouTube video series or website or something with a set of strength and flexibility exercises for a beginner adult studying gymnastics...something that can ideally be done in 30 minutes a day or so as I'm a pretty busy professional and I'm not in a big rush. I want something a little more structured because I feel like I'm just randomly choosing exercises I think would be good but I don't know much although I am learning a lot from this website. One particular thing I'm struggling with is shoulder flexibility so if you have any recommendations for stretches that would be helpful.

 

[Vivianflips]

I do not personally have any recommendations but I do have a suggestion, does a gym in your area offer adult classes? A lot of the adult classes are at convenient times for working adults. It's great that your taking up gymnastics though, I sure hope I an continue it into my adult years! As for shoulder flexibility I might try doing bridges against the wall and bringing your chest up to the wall and bridges on an elevated surface. Those helped me a lot with my shoulder flexibility! *I am no expert, these are my personal opinions*

 

[flippinam]

I have a set of DVD's that I purchased a while back called "Gymabstics". I think they're around $100 but it's a structured workout that works all areas needed for gymnastics. There's 6 DVD's that increase in difficulty with each one. You'd do each one for a month then move up a level the next month. Each workout is about 45 min long with the warmup & cool down included. I don't really know of any structured "plans" that are free on YouTube. For shoulders, this page has some good stretches/exercises: http://swingbig.org/shoulder-flexibility-in-developing-gymnasts/